Interview: Best Of Both Offices

In part 1 of our interview we talk with Young Sav and Steve-O. They help run the radio department in Def Jam and own Best Of Both Offices. In the interview we talk about how both got their start and how they created the Best Of Both Offices brand. We also talk about how they helped “guide” Rick Ross career.







In part 2 we talk the relationships between the BOBO team and the blog game. For those that know, Savv and Steve have really made an effort to include the blogs in the promo campaigns for their artists (conference calls, web content, etc.). We then talk about their relationship with Rik Cordero, and branching out to film.


Follow Them @YoungSavv and @StevoBOBO

Violating The Game: Chris Lighty Interview Pt. 2

Violating The Game: Chris Lighty Interview Pt. 1

In the first part of Al Linstrom‘s convo with the Violator Management mogul, Chris discusses his days at Rush Management, working with Lyor Cohen and Russell Simmons and choosing artists for the Violator roster.

Music Industry Update: Warner Music Group

First off, since I'm in a Finance class this month at Full Sail University, when I found out that "Warner Music Group Corp. (NYSE: WMG) is the world's only publicly-traded major music company" I was intrigued and knew that Warner Music Group (who was last traded at $8.17 today 6-10-11) was the perfect thing to discuss for the 1st Music Industry Update on my blog. The Overview on WMG's website states that Warner comprised of

"an array of businesses aimed at helping artists achieve long-term creative and financial success while providing consumers with the highest-quality music content available. WMG is engaged in the recorded music business (including artist services) and the music publishing business. WMG is a global leader in national and international repertoire and home to some of the best-known labels in the recorded music industry including Asylum, Atlantic, Cordless, East West, Elektra, Nonesuch, Reprise, Rhino, Roadrunner, Rykodisc, Sire, Warner Bros., Warner Music Nashville and Word. " In Hip-Hop & R&B, this means that WMG is the house of Artist such as Gucci Mane, T.I., Bruno Mars, B.o.B, Saigon, Musiq Soulchild, Travis Barker, Diggy and the newly signed & popular artists of Rick Ross' Maybach Music.

The overview also states how within the last few years, WMG has "grown to become the world's third-largest recorded music business and third-largest music publishing business and, during a time of dramatic industry transition," became established as one of the music industry's most successful companies.

The first piece of news comes from a blog post of Forbes Magazine's site about billionaire Len Blavatnik‘s purchase of Warner Music Group. He purchased the company with a $3.3 billion all-cash buyout. "Blavatnik’s company will pay $8.25 per share for publicly-traded Warner, a 34.4% premium over the stock’s six-month average price. The Russian-American billionaire is no stranger to Warner and its management–he served on the company’s board from 2004-2008 and purchased a Manhattan townhouse from chairman Edgar Bronfman, Jr. in 2007 for $50 million." WMG's CEO, Edgar Bronfman, who holds 7% of the company stands to gain $100 million from the deal.

In other WMG news, also on Forbes' blog, there is an article on WMG's Chief of Recorded Music, Lyor Cohen speaking on the future of the music business. The ex-president & co-founder of both Def Jam & Rush Management respectively spoke on various topics, including "the importance of multiple rights deals and implications of shrinking artist rosters industrywide." In the video posted on Forbes' site, Cohen overall speaks about how "The Revolution Will Be Digitized". Both articles on Forbes' site are important to know because these types of moves such as being bought and hearing from influential Music Industry people speak on how technology is changing the music industry is very important to those people like me interested in becoming apart of the Music Industry because we need to know what's going on & the effects they are going to have on the industry.

Hip-Hop Since 1978 Gains Another Rap Star & Potential Merger

It's Official. Nicki Minaj has dropped Diddy as her manager, according to XXL. XXL has confirmed that Nicki has parted ways with Diddy and is now being managed by the men of Hip-Hop Since 1978, Gee Roberson and Kyambo Joshua. They also have Lil' Wayne, Drake and Young Jeezy on their roster.

Although the reason for her departure isn’t clear, another source tells XXL that Minaj was under the impression that Diddy would be more hands-on with her career, but was disappointed when she realized it wasn’t the case. Just like most of everybody that was excited with the management venture Diddy took with signing both Rick Ross & Nicki Minaj, I thought this was going to be a very beneficial move especially after seeing some of the moves Diddy made with Ross just off of getting him his first commercial. However, despite not getting any commercials or signing any endorsements through her management venture with Diddy, Nicki still had a successful year and is continuing by Touring with Wayne, Ross, & Travis Barker on the I Am Music 2 Tour and with plans for a Pink Friday Tour for 2012, there is no worry about Nicki gaining the $$$.

In other related news, Cortez Bryant, both Lil' Wayne & Drake's Manager is on the verge of making his business deals with Hip-Hop Since 1978 official. Bryant "has made an indelible mark upon the music industry with his hands-on management style. For the last seven years, the Jackson University grad has ushered his roster of artists to chart-topping musical phenomenons. Lil Wayne, for instance, completed 78 headlining shows in nine months in 2009 that grossed well over $40 million, making him one of the most profitable touring artists. Similarly. Meanwhile Drake has secured endorsement/sponsorship deals with brands ranging from Sprite and Kodak to AT&T." In the Black Enterprise article, they interviewed him about his success with Wayne & Drake and about his upcoming power merger with Hip-Hop Since 1978.

This move in my opinion is great for Hip-Hop because both companies already have joint management duty for Wayne and Drake, by merging they are under one branch and it allows for Bryant to have more say in their careers and provide potential opportunities for the other Hip-Hop Since 1978 clients. It also gives Hip-Hop Since 1978 another power boost and leg up against other Management companies like Violator, G.O.O.D. Music, Roc Nation, and Diddy's new Bad Boy Management. With these powerhouse companies existing with successful artists like Drake, Nicki, Ross, & Wayne, Hip-Hop is continuing on its rise from the dead.

Live For Your Dreams

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | Video on TED.com

Steve Jobs. Who Doesn't know who Steve Jobs is? If you're any type of Apple Product owner, you should know who Steve Jobs is. In this video, Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple and Pixar, urges people to pursue our dreams and see the opportunities in life's setbacks even if that includes, death itself. He speaks about how despite dropping out of college, he still achieved his dreams even though he didn't know what he wanted to do with his life at the time. A person has to trust that no matter what road they travel that it will all come together, "all the dots will connect" somehow and when you look back on the quest it will come together like it was supposed to unlike when you looked forward and it didn't make sense.

He states that "Sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick, don't lose faith...You've got to find what you life...Do what you believe is great work...If you haven't found it yet...keep looking, don't settle" This statement and words of wisdom and advice from him materialized and renewed a fire personally for me because even though I'm young I feel like I'm behind the curve with where I should be in life and my career goals just because I see other's already in the music industry succeeding at young ages before and by the time they are 30. I don't want to be in my late 20's-early 30's just getting my career established and making a name for myself, I want it to start making it happen now, which when I look at my career now, it discourages me but thanks to successful people like Steve Jobs, I continue to live for my dreams and not losing any faith.

"Remembering That You Are Going To Die" is also a subject Steve Jobs speaks on. He states how all fear of failure falls off and gets rid of the thought that thinking a person has something to lose. "Don't let others opinions drown out your inner voice" is how he answers the previous mention of knowing we are going to die because we have to live for our dreams and "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" no matter what people say. Steve Jobs has had an interesting road that has brought him to his place in life now that looking forward wouldn't make sense, but like he said looking back all the dots connect and that's how we should live our lives and that is what I plan to do.

Illegal Downloading Close To Being Stopped??

The music industry sees illegal music downloading as the #1 problem and cause for the state the industry is in today. In recent years the industry has pushed for stricter copyright laws and harsh punishments for music pirates. With the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to "support and promote the creative and financial vitality of the major music companies" the music industry doesn't have to worry as much about their livelihood being taken away because of bootleggers and illegal music downloading. The RIAA is continuously working to protect the intellectual property and First Amendment rights of artists and music labels so that they are getting paid for their work and not getting ripped off.

Some of the major moves that the RIAA has made along with Homeland Security (shut down RapGodfathers) were the shutdown of major sites such as Napster, RapGodfathers and most recently Limewire.

Here are some statistics taken from the RIAA website on how "Music theft is a real, ongoing and evolving challenge. Both the volume of music acquired illegally and the resulting drop in revenues are staggering. Digital sales, while on the rise, are not making up the difference.":

-In the decade since peer-to-peer (p2p) file-sharing site Napster emerged in 1999, music sales in the U.S. have dropped 47 percent, from $14.6 billion to $7.7 billion.
-From 2004 through 2009 alone, approximately 30 billion songs were illegally downloaded on file-sharing networks.
-NPD reports that only 37 percent of music acquired by U.S. consumers in 2009 was paid for.
-Frontier Economics recently estimated that U.S. Internet users annually consume between $7 and $20 billion worth of digitally pirated recorded music.
-According to the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, the digital theft of music, movies and copyrighted content takes up huge amounts of Internet bandwidth – 24 percent globally, and 17.5 percent in the U.S.
-Digital storage locker downloads constitute 7 percent of all Internet traffic, while 91 percent of the links found on them were for copyrighted material, and 10 percent of those links were to music specifically, according to a 2011 Envisional study.

Studies, however, are divided as to whether illegal downloading decreases legal sales much because illegal downloading may be a benefit to lesser known artists because it increases exposure. In the hip-hop industry, artists have taken it as an advantage by releasing free mixtapes and "albums" for listeners to check out in hopes that when they release an actual retail album that those same listeners will purchase it in support of their new favorite artist. With these varied opinions on illegal downloading and how it can be either detrimental or beneficial raises another question for artist (at least Hip-Hop & R&B artists) of "If illegal downloading of music does come to an end, how will the artist and fan and in the end the music industry react?"


For more info about the RIAA check out the FAQ portion of their website.